School's In Session
by YbbaSkcos
Summary: Post ANGEL. Angel may be missing, but she's not the only one missing. When Max gets a lead on Angel's whereabouts, will Max take the shot? Even if it endangers her flock in the process?
1. Chapter 1

**My first fan-fiction ever. So if it's sucky I apologize in advance . Please let me know if i should improve and or if you like it. I hope you enjoy.**

**Anything involved in the Max Ride series, well... I don't own it.**

**{{ And greetings from her beta and best friend in the whole entire world, Bayzen, or as she calls me, Trinly. ... She just read this and started laughing. Then she said "Trinster!" God she's a moron. }}**

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><p>Chapter 1<p>

Nothing feels better than having the wind blowing in my hair. Except when you lose two people that you love. Angel and Fang. Both gone in a blink of an eye. It was hard to lose Fang in the first place, but when you combine that with losing Angel- all in one day... You might collapse with something I like to call broken heart-itis. As a leader I'm supposed to be strong and make hard decisions. I was strong and didn't shed one tear until we made it to the safe house in Minnesota. Once we had landed safely and everyone was pretty much okay, I collapsed on the couch and haven't moved since.

Soon after we came home, Dylan and I got in a huge fight. Dylan left and never came back, leaving me to deal with another loss. Dylan may have been a good fighter, but he kept making me feel confused about my feelings. Did I like like him or not? It was a hard decision, and I could mourn about him to, but Angel was my major grievance just then. My baby was gone and there was nothing that I could about it.

Iggy, the best cook I know, couldn't even get me to eat his homemade lasagna- my favorite food. Nudge, the person I rely on to make me feel better, couldn't even get me to smile or show any emotion. And Gazzy, my strong nine-year-old, couldn't do anything but sit next to me and let me hold him. So when the CSM offered to take us to school, all I could do is say yes. The flock may not have liked it, but it was the best for us- for me. And maybe, just maybe- I could find out where Angel was. If, you know, she wasn't dead.

"Come on, this was your idea," said Nudge shoving a toothbrush in my mouth, "You wanted to go to school. So you are going!"

Never has Nudge had to take care of me like this. Never has she had to tell me to do something that I _really _wasn't looking forward to doing. "Nudge, I'm just not in the mood," I said.

"Yeah? Well Gazzy isn't in the mood either and yet he's showered, and is in fresh clothing." Nudge said. "Even Iggy is ready to go. Heck he was the first one up. He even made pancakes." Nudge put her hands on her hips and said, " You are going whether you like it or not," Her voice was icy and drawling. She meant what she said, and we both knew it.

"You're right," I said, surrendering reluctantly. "Fine, I'll go."

I got up and took my first shower in two weeks. I brushed my hair- well, I _sort of_ brushed my hair, and put on an over-sized sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. I quickly ate five helpings of pancakes and was out the door in less than thirty minutes. We drove like normal people do in a car that the CSM bought us. The flock wasn't thrilled about me driving to school but at least we could travel and not look suspicious. We lived about a half-hour drive away from the school; a ten minute flight for us Avian Americans.

We may have been living in a tiny town; heck, it might as well be called a village, but I still did a three-sixty scan every so often just to make myself feel better. People in that town had never seen someone with blindness, or anything similar, for that matter, so Iggy was pretty much famous. So far it seemed that no one had read Fang's blog. Otherwise they were too dull to figure out who we were.

Once at school and parked, we walked to our first class. Iggy and I had three classes out of eight together, though Nudge and Gazzy shared no classes. I told the flock to be on the lookout at all times, but to try to have fun. The flock thought I was crazy for telling them to have fun when Angel and Fang we gone and we were at the worst place imaginable.

My first class was gym, and we played kick-ball. The whole class was surprised that a girl could kick farther and run faster then any of the guys there, but I did try to appear as inconspicuous as possible. It was hard not to just spread my wings out and fly away to a corner and cry over the loss of Angel. The important thing was that I didn't. I was becoming stronger by being around strangers.

Gym was very interesting with Iggy. The gym teacher had tried to have Iggy sit out but Iggy wasn't going to have that. And well, neither was I. We hadn't had fun in two weeks and we really deserved to have a little fun, right? The class was amazed by how well Iggy could kick. He never had to run the bases, because he kept kicking home-runs.

When gym was over, and we were in the locker room changing I heard some of the girls talking about Iggy.

"That kid, Iggy, is so hot," said a girl with blond hair.

"I know, right? I call dibs," replied Blondie's friend, she too had blond hair.

"Sh. His sister's like, right there," Blondie said. "Hi, I'm Fae. And you are?"

"I'm Max," I said, shutting my locker.

"What does Max stand for?" asked Blondie, or Fae, I guess.

"Nothing. It's just Max," I said.

I walked out of the locker room and into the hallway, were we had to wait until the bell rang. Iggy was already waiting there. "You're famous," I said.

"What do you mean?" Iggy inquired.

"The girls in the locker room are fighting over who gets dibs on you," I responded.

"Really?" Iggy asked.

I rolled my eyes and said, "I'm rolling my eyes. And yes."

"Sweet," Iggy said.

I don't know how Iggy could be thinking about girls when Ella, his only love, was still missing. "What about Ella?"

"She just has too much drama going on and I can't risk getting her heart broken," Iggy said, "Since I am the Igster."

The bell rang and thank God it did otherwise Iggy would have been a dead man.

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><p><strong>I hope you enjoyed the first chapter, please give me your comments. Good or bad.<strong>

**{{ Or else! ... Or not... }}**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hope you enjoyed the last chapter and will if you didn't then I don't get why you'd keep reading it! If you did enjoy it and are still reading then I'm proud of you and give you a round of applause.**

**Max Ride. Max and everything to do with Max. Yeah, I don't own it. **

**{{ She's exceedingly proud of herself for pulling out two chapters in one day. I wouldn't blame her- if they were a thousand words longer! Hah :P }}**

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><p>Chapter 2<p>

Homework... homework... homework. Oh the joys of having homework on the second day of school. Even better- having to write about what you did during your summer vacation. Well, if I told anybody about my summer vacation, they'd either send me to an insane asylum and throw me in a straight jacket or laugh at me for having an extraordinary imagination. Either way I was going to have to lie through my teeth in order to get a good grade. Iggy had no troubles with his paper, considering he didn't have to write a paper because of his blindness. The teacher ate it all up, when Iggy told Mrs. Myer about how he became blind. His story was that when he was five, his aunt left him outside during a terrible wind storm and something flew in his eye. When he finally got to the hospital it became apparent the damage was too severe to be repaired.

So while I was stuck writing my stupid paper, Iggy was playing a video game with a name somewhere along the lines of _Life as A Blood Sucking Zombie_. It's not that easy to write a paper about something totally fictionary. "Iggy, I need brain food," I said.

"Me too," agreed Nudge, "My math homework is giving me a brain fart."

"Um... I want pizza. No... tacos. No, I want taco pizza," remarked Gazzy.

"No. I do not want to be anywhere near you or your digestive system once you've you eaten a couple of pans," I said. There was no sarcasm in my voice. I was dead serious.

"But Max-," Gazzy began.

"No _but_s. I've had a long day and I'm in no mood for your ingesting defects," I said, pushing the laptop - that we stole from- well, I'm not going to tell you exactly _where _we stole it from - farther on the table.

"I will just make tacos," Iggy said finally.

"Please do your homework," I said to Gazzy.

This whole let's-go-to-school thing was not working out very well. I figured it would get my mind off Angel's and Fang's disappearances, but well, sadly school doesn't do that to you-at least not me. I started on my paper and this is what it looked like-

_What I Did This Summer_

_By Max Ride_

_During the summer I hung out with my family. I turned 15 and moved to Minnesota.-_

Okay I know it sucks but that's all I could think of and unfortunately it was due the next day. If only they'd understand who the real me was; I would have had the best paper ever. I looked over at Nudge and she was looking at her math book with a blank face. I could tell that she was confused and really wished that she could understand the problem. Gazzy was spewing spit balls at Iggy while he tried to cook. And I was trying to write a stupid paper about my "boring" summer.

I give up on that stupid assignment. Shouldn't I get special treatment just for being the sister of the blind attention hog? I guess not, because I'm already failing and I've only gone to school for two days. I swear if I hear another girl talk about how strong Iggy is, I'm going to punch someone.

:) (:

"OMG! Are you Max?" asked a red haired girl.

"Yes and why?" I asked. This chick was giving me the creeps. I didn't know if I should run away or stay. Man I needed some courage slapped into me or something.

"My name is Zabrina and I'm like your biggest fan," the ginger freak, Zabrina, said. "So like what happened to Angel? I don't see her anywhere."

"Don't bring up that name," I said, grabbing her by the shirt collar and pressing her against the lockers. "Who do you work for and how do you know about Angel?" I had adrenaline pumping through my veins. I wanted to through her out of a window, but that would draw too much attention- and God, this was conspicuous enough.

"From Fang's blog and no one," Zabrina said, looking thoroughly frightened.

"Scat and don't talk to me or tell anyone what just happened," I ordered.

Zabrina ran and she didn't turn back.

I was going to kill Fang. First he leaves. Then tells me to come back again. Then he leaves again. And now he tells the whole world that my baby was gone. When I find him- if I find him - scratch that I will find him - I'll make him feel the pain that I have felt for the last three weeks. Fang was going to die and I knew who was going to kill him. This time, anyway. I wonder who will bring him back this time. Won't be me, I can tell you that much.

Hello Max, glad to have you back.

Nudge's POV

Laden. Aw. Laden was so hot. Laden had every class with me. He had beach blonde hair and was naturally tan. He looked hotter than Dylan did before Max got to him. Laden Hansen. He knew how to talk to a girl, unlike how Fang talked to Max. He put his mood in his words and it almost mad you want to drop over and beg to be able to look at him for hours on end. He had only said about twenty-five whole words but that was enough to make my heart want Laden to just never stop talking. I wanted to smell his cologne so bad. Was I really in love with a guy I hardly even knew and just met? I'll have to talk to Max about this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks for reading the other two chapters. Enjoy the read! **

**Jeb and the flock... yeah well, I don't own them... AT ALL!**

**Hope you like it...**

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><p><strong><span>Max's POV<span>**

I was in my favorite class in the whole world… English. We were getting our over-the-summer papers back and I was sure I would get nothing lower then a C. When Mrs. Myer gave me back my paper I inspected it for a grade, and on the top right corner there was a big, fat F.

Mrs. Myer stood in front of the room and asked, "Does anyone have any questions on their paper?"

I raised my hand. Mrs. Myer called on me and I said, "I don't understand why I got an F."

"You didn't have enough imagination in it," Mrs. Myer said looking bored, "Any other questions?"

Not enough imagination! The whole thing was based on imagination. It was the third day of school and I was already failing English. This was baloney. If going to school was going to be like this, then I wasn't going to wait until the end of the year to leave. I felt my hands ball into fists. I just wanted to punch her or something. No, I wanted to understand who I was and what I was capable of. I raised my hand and was going to ask to have my grade changed, when the phone rang and I was sent to the office.

I was really worried. I didn't know why I was being sent to the office. Did Gazzy and Iggy do something to get us all in trouble? If so, then I knew two dead boys. Besides, that option wasn't exactly unlikely.

When I got to the office, the assistant told me to go into the principal's office. I hesitated but figured that I_had_to go in, even if I didn't want to - and trust me I_didn't_! - I opened the door and walked in. I'll allow you one guess as to who was sitting in one of the chairs. Wait for it- Jeb. What was Jeb doing back and where were my mom and Ella?

Jeb rubbed his hands on his jeans and looked just about uncomfortable as I did. "Hey Max. How have you been?" Jeb said.

"I_had_been fine. What are you doing here?" I hissed.

"And the others?" Jeb insisted on knowing everything.

"Fine," I said, looking very annoyed. I just wanted him to leave. "What are you doing here?"

"There's something I need to tell you," Jeb said, looking worried. "It's about Fang."

"I don't want to hear it." I just wanted to do an_up, up, and away_thing. But I couldn't.

"It's really important," Jeb said.

I glanced at the principal. He looked like he wanted to butt in but didn't know where to begin. "What is it then?" I demanded. I felt light-headed; I kinda wanted to lie down and go to sleep. Hoping that when I woke up that it would just be a bad dream.

Jeb hesitated. "We- I mean I-" Jeb began, but I cut him off.

"What do you mean_we_?" I said, putting threat into my voice. Jeb knew that bringing up Fang meant bringing up memories. Memories that I really did not to be remembering while I thought about a plan to look for Angel.

"That will have to wait," Jeb said, "The main thing is what I have to tell you about Fang."

"I don't want to hear it," I repeated, storming out of the school and flying away. It sounds so easy in words.

_You can't keep running from your troubles Max,_said my stupid Voice,_You must learn to fight your fears._

"I know how to fight my fears!" I screamed, tears wanting to come.

What was happening to me? Why was I so emotional?

_You should listen to Jeb. What he needs to tell you_ is_ important. You need to get over your differences with Jeb. __He can help you._

The stupid voice was always right, but at the wrong time. I couldn't forget Jeb. At least not right now. I needed to figure out where Angel was and maybe, just maybe, find Fang in the process.

I turned back towards the school. Thinking of a way to get Nudge to hack into databases around the world without being to suspicious.

**Nudge's POV**

I slurped my strawberry milkshake, wondering at how chick-flick-y the whole moment was. I'd agreed to meet this kid from school, Laden, at the park. He had bought us both milkshakes from the ice-cream vender. There was a lot of awkward silence for what seemed like a life time. I didn't know what to say. The never-stop-talking-Nudge was speechless. Laden made me too nervous to think about forming a sentence. Finally Laden broke the silence, "I'm not normal."

I couldn't help but laugh. Not normal? Nobody's normal.

"I'm serious," Laden whispered.

"Tell me why." I said, trying not to laugh again. Man this kid was funny.

He pulled up his sleeve and there right by his elbow was ancient roman writing. Beside it was what looked to be scales growing around the Roman letters.

"You should really get that checked out," I said, looking appalled.

"The writing means python." Laden said.

_Ooookay..._"Why do you have that?" I asked. I was a little freaked out.

He pointed to the patch by his elbow. "These," he said, "are python scales. I think it's supposed to spread until it covers all my skin. I'm recombinant." With that he showed me his tongue and sure enough it was forked, like a snake's.

"Why are you telling me this?" I said, looking really scared. I was ready to leave when he grabbed my arm. "Let go!" I demanded.

"No. I'm telling you because I'm tired of being the weird kid that keeps to himself. I have maybe two years before I start living in caves and eating mice," he said. "I was one of their mistakes."

Mistakes? Does this have to do with Itex? "How many more are like you?" I asked.

"None that I'm aware of," Laden said, "I've been hiding here for the past year. If they... if they find me, they'll kill me. I was designed to kill you and your flock, but I suck at fighting. We'll- just leave it at that." He whispered.

I watched his expression for a moment, then realized it must have been getting close to when I'd told Gazzy to tell Max that I'd be home. "I have to leave," I said, "I'll see you tomorrow." I stood up and quickly ran out of there and ran to the trees by the park. I took off into the sunset and headed for home.

**Max's POV**

Where was Nudge? She should have been home like, two hours ago. Nudge was _so_ dead- if she wasn't already dead. _Don't think like that_. I scolded myself.

Just then Nudge walked in through the front door, with a smile on her face.

"Where the hell were you?" I yelled.

"Out with Laden," Nudge said, "Didn't Gazzy tell you?"

I looked over at Gazzy sitting in the corner "playing" with LEGOs. "Why didn't you tell me that Nudge was not going to be coming home?" I demanded.

Gazzy looked at the window, then at me, debating whether he should jump out and face my wrath later or just explain himself now. "She didn't tell me that she was going to hang out with some guy." Gazzy said looking scared, testing out any loopholes.

"You still didn't tell me that Nudge wasn't going to be coming home," I insisted.

"I forgot," Gazzy said, "Besides I was concentrating on doing my homework. You should have known when Nudge didn't show up at the car."

"What's going on in here?" said Jeb, walking out of the bathroom, newspaper in hand. I had decided to let Jeb come to the safe house and get cleaned up. Something inside of me wanted to be friends with him and to be able to trust him again. I just didn't know.

"Nudge was out with a boy," I said. I couldn't believe that my little Nudge was interested in boys. Or maybe I could... "I hope you're still hungry; Iggy made hamburgers."

We all walked into the kitchen silent. Iggy looked worried when he sensed that none of us were happy with each other. "What's going on?" Iggy asked.

"Nudge was out with some boy and just got home. Plus Gazzy didn't tell me that Nudge wasn't going to be coming home." I said, not looking up from the table. I was so disappointed that I hadn't realized that Nudge hadn't come to the car after school.

"Look, there's something that I need to tell you," Jeb said, "It's important."

Nobody looked up from their food. Everyone pretty much knew that whatever Jeb had to say wasn't as important as he thought it would be. I managed to roll my eyes, "Yeah, you keep saying that."

"It's about Fang," Jeb said.

I already knew that, but it caught everyone else's attention.

"Fang, has gotten into some trouble." Jeb said, "He somehow got on the FBI most wanted list. He's number one. The first person to find him gets one million dollars."

"What did he do?" I said, "Fang never gets caught." It was after the fact that I realized I sounded pretty dumb. How long had it been since I saw Fang last? But at least I was keeping cool about having Fang brought up.

"I don't know what he did," Jeb said, looking uncomfortable, "All I know is that the FBI is looking for him."

"That's what you had to tell us," I said, "Would you like us to go find him? If you don't remember he left us. The only person I'm going to find is Angel."

"I understand, but don't you want to know why the FBI is looking for him?" Jeb asked.

"Of course we do, but who knows what he and his gang did," I said.

"I would like to go find Fang," Iggy said, "I mean, he was in the flock at one point, and, well, he's our brother."

"If Iggy goes then I go," Gazzy said.

"Hold up," I said.

Everybody was quiet while I processed things. "Fine. We can go," I finally said, "On one condition."

The flock looked scared until I said, "Only if we have some fun. I think we all could use a break."

The flock erupted into chatter and cheers, and I couldn't help but smile. They were finally happy. Then why wasn't I happy?

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><p><strong>... Did you like it? if so or if not please give me a review.<strong>

**The whole failing English... Well, last time I checked my English teacher was failing me. He doesn't like me and I don't like him. Thanks for reading Chapter one-three. Please give a review... GOOD OR BAD. AND PLEASE KEEP READING!**


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